Trump’s proposed Space Academy aims to educate a new generation of astronauts and engineers

By Jackie Wattles, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump is proposing the creation of a “United States Space Academy” designed to offer the same type of tuition-free, four-year degree as US military academies.

But rather than requiring active-duty military service, graduates of this federally funded university may fulfill their post-graduation obligations by working at NASA or “as a government civilian,” said a senior space agency official familiar with the matter who requested to speak anonymously to freely discuss ongoing work.

The school would train the “next generation of astronauts, scientists, engineers, operators, entrepreneurs, civil servants, and warfighters,” according to an August 28 executive order to establish the academy, signed by the president.

Details about how this institution would be run and who would be eligible to attend are yet to be determined; the executive order directs a commission — led by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman — to hash out “key details” by Christmas.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment regarding the plans for the Space Academy.

An evolving idea

Before taking the role of NASA chief, Isaacman included a proposal for a Starfleet Academy — a reference to the training school first introduced in the 1960s TV series “Star Trek”— in a document outlining his plans for the agency. Isaacman envisioned it to be “an institution capable of certifying launch and spaceflight hardware for operation, training operators and flight crew members, and certifying the competence of such personnel.”

Some lawmakers have shown a similar interest, such as US Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama who floated the idea of a Space Academy during a 2021 hearing. (Gen. John Raymond, then chief of space operations of the US Space Force, told Tuberville at the time he didn’t think it was necessary because the US Air Force Academy was sufficient.)

The idea, however, appears to be evolving.

“This is a NASA-led, civilian — and a very distinct difference here — federal academy, not a service academy,” the senior NASA official, who fervently supports the space academy concept, told CNN. “This is a way to boost and expand opportunities for the greatest, best and brightest in our nation to expand opportunities to serve.”

Policymakers and experts reached by CNN to discuss the matter largely said that, in an era when space is becoming increasingly militarized and NASA is planning a moon base, there may be some advantages to creating such an institution.

But questions remain: Would Congress approve the project? How would such a school, which could perhaps cost up to $1 billion per year to operate, be funded? And what would its curriculum look like?

When it comes to the question of whether such an academy is necessary, the devil may be in the details, said Dr. Eric Merriam, a professor of legal studies and political science at the University of Central Florida.

A “new Space Academy is only necessary if it provides something existing educational institutions do not, can do it better, or can do it cheaper,” Merriam, who previously was an assistant professor at the Air Force Academy, said via email.

NASA’s private sector problem

There is one crucial way such an academy could fill an urgent need.

“NASA and other STEM and cyber-focused government entities are experiencing real difficulty competing with industry to recruit and retain talent,” Merriam said, noting that jobs in the private sector, where companies can pay lofty salaries and offer lush benefits, tend to be more attractive.

That’s the key appeal of the Space Academy: Students of such an institution could receive a free education and commit to working at NASA or in another government role. And they wouldn’t necessarily be required to undergo military training or join the armed services after graduation.

“In my view, the most compelling argument in favor of a Space Academy,” Merriam said, “is the potential return on investment to the nation of offering a non-military pathway for top students to receive a high-quality, national service-focused, free college education in exchange for subsequent public service.”

However, “the question,” Merriam noted, “becomes whether a Space Academy, with its associated costs, bureaucracy, and potential for politicization, is preferable to the other potential ways to fill that void.”

Other options for creating a pipeline to NASA, Merriam noted, include government scholarships for students to attend existing institutions in exchange for post-graduation civil service. Federal agencies could otherwise drastically increase the salaries and benefits for such in-demand civil service careers in fields like STEM and cyber.

The Cold War playbook

The senior NASA official, however, argued that scholarships may not be sufficient, and a dedicated institution would showcase how vital subject matter expertise has become.

“All of those other opportunities with scholarships and civilian universities and so on and so forth — those are still going to be there,” the official said. But the Space Academy is “about expanding opportunities.”

The official noted that the United States is in the throes of a new space race as it rivals China to return astronauts to the moon and begin building a permanent lunar settlement.

On several occasions since taking NASA’s top job in December, Isaacman has talked about wanting to draw on lessons learned in the last space race: the 20th century competition that pitted the United States against the Soviet Union.

Just as the Cold War heated up, and the aviation industry matured, the US government established the Air Force Academy, which went from signed legislation in April 1954 to welcoming its first students in July 1955.

Now that space technology is evolving to become as strategically important as the aviation industry, the lack of a similar pipeline for space education represents a “big gap,” the official said.

Curriculum questions

In terms of academic offerings, a space academy likely would not be that different than existing institutions, such as the Air Force Academy, Merriam said.

Current service academies “offer excellent programs in nearly all the same subjects (and more) that the proposed Space Academy would offer,” he said via email.

The issue, Merriam emphasized, is not what service academies are teaching — it’s that graduates of schools such as the Air Force Academy are required to enter military service, including about five years of active duty.

Merriam added that it’s “not realistic” to expect that the problem would be solved if the government began offering students at military institutions the option to enter civil service at NASA.

Allowing those students to choose between military or civil service could hinder existing schools’ abilities to fulfill their primary mission: training leaders for the armed forces.

These academies also require extensive, military-specific physical training that may be “unattractive to many students considering their educational options” in the first space, Merriam noted.

But service academies in general face a key problem, he said — one of academic freedom. He previously coauthored a research paper on the topic, which argued that such schools face “distinct challenges” where the marketplace of ideas is “limited by institutional policies that serve a gate-keeping function.”

“Although STEM courses tend to raise fewer academic freedom issues than other subjects,” Merriam told CNN, “even mathematical or scientific inquiry is not immune to stifling external pressures, as Galileo knew all too well.”

“Unless Congress imposes guardrails to protect academic freedom,” Merriam added, “the Space Academy’s curriculum and faculty will be subject to the ideological whims of the politicians atop the Executive Branch.”

US Rep. George Whitesides, a Democrat from California who previously was CEO of commercial space company Virgin Galactic and chief of staff at NASA, shared similar concerns.

“The administration’s war on American science does seem incompatible with setting up a science institution or something related to space science,” he said, referring in part to the White House’s repeated proposals to cut NASA’s science budget by nearly 50%.

The budget issue

Whitesides added that he is not opposed to the idea of creating a space academy, emphasizing that he believes such an institution could prove valuable for many of the same reasons Merriam laid out.

But he also expressed concern and raised questions in a post on social media last week.

Because the executive order determined that the school will be “NASA-led,” for example, would the funding come out of the space agency’s budget?

“There needs to be some real discussion between people who are thoughtful and people who are open-minded about the benefits — what we really get out of it — and then what we can afford as a country,” Whitesides told CNN in a Wednesday interview.

(The senior NASA official said that budgetary questions are “to be determined” but that the commission is engaging with both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.)

Existing military academies such as West Point or the US Naval Academy cost about $1 billion to operate each year. And though it would be up to Congress — which holds national budgeting authority under the Constitution — to approve funding for a new space academy, Trump’s executive order did not appoint any congressional representatives to the Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, which is tasked with drawing up the school’s plans, Whitesides noted.

US Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California and ranking member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee told CNN on Friday that the lack of Congressional representation on the commission is “going to have to change.”

When asked if there is a pathway to getting the commission membership to change, Lofgren said she believes there is, noting she is in regular communication with NASA’s administrator.

Merriam said that he shares concerns about how much this institution would cost. “It’s hard to imagine the federal government doing something more inexpensively than what is already offered by existing educational institutions,” he said.

Whitesides added that he is suspicious of a White House proposal centered on bolstering NASA-focused education.

He noted that the Trump administration has twice attempted to zero out NASA’s education budget in addition to steep cuts to the agency’s science programs — ideas that Congress has rejected in annual appropriations.

“How is this all consistent?” Whitesides asked.

Still, he said, he is open to the idea of the Space Academy. He specifically imagines that it could lend a much-needed hand in assisting with government procurement programs — perhaps providing crucial expertise that can help the government spend taxpayer money more wisely when it comes to buying space hardware and services.

“I am a deep believer in the future of space and its importance to humanity,” Whitesides said. “And the idea of creating a place where we develop and train those with the strongest calling towards national service in space is an idea that has some merit.”

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